Infants and children encounter numerous difficulties in using conventional toilet seats which are of a size to accommodate adult users. Infants and children using conventional toilet seats often fear falling into the commode and risk injury due to the failure of adult toilet seats to accommodate them comfortably. As is known in the art, various types of children's toilet seats and toilet trainers have been developed to provide the infant or child with his own toilet seat having smaller dimensions than that of the adult toilet seat. However, while meeting the problems of providing a smaller toilet seat, these prior toilet trainers create various sanitary, aesthetic, and accessibility problems.
Numerous requirements are desired in a child's toilet seat or toilet trainer. A child's toilet seat should require minimal handling by adults who wish to use the conventional toilet seat after the child. The child's toilet trainer should be usable with the conventional toilet bowl to eliminate the need of an adult handling, emptying and cleaning the toilet trainer after each use by the child. Since children often require frequent use of the toilet trainer, the child's toilet seat should be capable of remaining affixed to the conventional commode so as to always be ready to use. However, when the child's toilet seat is not being used, it should neither restrict the use of the commode by an adult nor provide an unsightly, unaesthetic view while the child's toilet seat is stored in a nonused position. Additionally, toilet trainers should have a urine deflector which can be easily positionable out of the way within the child's toilet seat when not in use so that the child can easily slide onto the child's toilet seat without the need of circumventing the upstanding urine deflector. The urine deflector should be movable between its use and nonuse positions without the need of adult handling.
Prior art toilet trainers fail to provide these desirable characteristics. Presently employed toilet trainers require significant unsanitary handling by the child and adult, restrict the normal usage of the commode by adults, and render the bathroom area unattractive and aesthetically displeasing as the child's toilet trainer is cast onto the floor or, in some cases, kept on the wall during its storage. Often, the toilet trainer is cast either into the bathtub or under the sink vanity when it is not being used, and hence it is not readily accessible when the child most needs it. Prior art toilet trainers are incapable of being easily connected to the conventional commode, but rather they require the use of special recessed lids and brackets, as well as special tools for assembly. Finally, prior art devices fail to provide a universally adaptable mechanism on a conventional toilet lid which allows the child's toilet seat to be automatically lifted from its use position to a storage position without either the need of touching the toilet seat or of using a specially designed lid.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,820,969 in the name of Louther Dewell Wedge discloses a specially adapted lid which fits onto a child's toilet seat so that the lid and child's toilet seat can be moved as one. However, this device lacks the universal adaptability required since the conventional lid of the typical commode must be replaced by a specially designed lid which can specifically accommodate the toilet seat of the device.
The need of such a specially designed lid to use with the child's toilet trainer is typical of prior art devices which fit the child's toilet seat into a specially recessed lid when the child's toilet seat is not being used. The adult or child lifts the child's toilet seat and positions it within the specially adapted lid. Examples of such a recessed lid configuration are demonstrated by the above patent to Wedge and U.S. Pat. No. 2,111,044 in the name of Vernon E. Crosby.
Other devices are positionable onto the commode just prior to each use. When not needed, the toilet trainer is removed from the commode and it is stored by either placing it on the bathroom floor or on the wall near the commode, or hiding it in a closet, bathtub or vanity cabinet. Of course, prior to reuse, the toilet trainer must be located and repositioned on the commode. This procedure of requiring the child to find the toilet trainer before he may use the commode creates confusion in the child's mind since he must follow a procedure distinguishable from that conventionally used by adults. Other toilet trainers are manufactured as completely separate units which have their own collection areas and they are not used in conjunction with the conventional commode. These devices require the adult to clean the collection area and hence, the use of such a toilet trainer necessitates unsanitary contact with the waste product of the child as well as being inconvenient and time consuming to use.
Prior art devices provide essentially three urine deflector options to the consumer. First, some types of deflectors or splashguards are made as one integral piece with the child's toilet seat and hence are always in a use position. U.S. Pat. No. 3,153,248 in the name of Hobart G. Miller is exemplary of this type. The child, however, has difficulty in sliding onto and off of the seat since the deflector presents an encumbrance. Secondly, some models of deflectors snap onto the toilet seat just prior to use. These devices, however, require the unsanitary handling of the deflector by later users of the commode who wish to remove the deflector. As with the detachable toilet seat, handling and storage problems arise when the deflector is disconnected from the toilet seat. Finally, some prior art urine deflectors are movable within the child's toilet seat and always automatically assume an upright position when the child's toilet seat is in place. Hence these deflectors require a person to hold the deflector down in the toilet seat if its use is not required. Examples of this type of urine deflector are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,494,813 in the name of Robert Hughes and U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,822 in the name of Sol Weiss.